//-->

ACES AND FIGHTER OF WORLD WAR 1 Collection of postcards. the copyright is present only on the pictures online and not on original Bleriot-XI In 1909 the Bleriot was the first aeroplane to cross the Channel. Apart from this very famous sporting feat, the plane, designed and built in France by Louis Bleriot, was very soon used to train pilots by almost all the new European (and Japanese!) air forces. The military version was particularly successful in Italy where it was built under licence by SIT in Turin and used in early operation in the Africa campaign. The very first bombing raid in history was carried out in Libya, in 1911, by Captain Carlo Piazza who, flying a Bleriot, dropped two-kilo Cipelli hand grenades. When World War I broke out, about ten French squadrons were equipped with the Bleriot, as were many Italian ones, as well as five British squadrons. Many Bleriot XIs were also used by the Belgians, Russians and Serbs. The Bleriot XI-2 shown here belonged to the Italian Air Force’s 3rd Squadron based in Cuneo in 1914. The other images show the historical Channel crossing, Captain Piazza standing next to his Bleriot in Libya in 1911 and a two-kilo Cipelli bomb of the kind used in the first bombing raid in history.